DC Trawler

Predominantly white crowd gathers at Netroots Nation 2013

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Don’t get me wrong, some of my best friends are white. But do we really need so many of those people? They’re everywhere!

Sharon Kyle writes at the LA Progressive blog:

Progressive activists, talking heads, politically savvy bloggers, elected officials, non-profits, political candidates, and a host of others found their way to San Jose for four days of trainings, panel sessions and parties — Netroots Nation is in California!

…For social justice advocates, NN13 is the place to be. The halls are packed with the kinds of people who want to change the world, who want to make it a better place for everyone. Which brings me to the point of this piece: Although Netroots touts itself as being an incubator for ideas that challenge the status quo, judging from the racial make-up of the NN13 attendees, lack of diversity is one status quo that didn’t seem to be challenged enough.

It’s important to acknowledge that Netroots Nation instituted a policy requiring all panels to be diverse. In full disclosure, I was a member of the panel selection committee. As we prepared to make our selections, we were instructed to dismiss any panel that was comprised entirely of white males…

Good idea. Everybody knows that people with the same skin color are all alike, and people of the same gender are all alike. What happens when you put together a bunch of people with the same skin color and the same gender? I hope I never have to find out! I mean, what’s diverse about that? It looks really bad on camera.

Well, that’s assuming they’re white males. If not, the preceding paragraph is racist.

To their credit, the organizers were very clear that they intended to be inclusive. But you couldn’t have guessed that by the looks of the crowd at the popular Netroots Nation Karaoke party on Thursday night or by perusing the halls of the San Jose Convention Center. For the past two days I’ve been one of a sprinkling of minorities floating in a sea of young white people.

And it goes on like that. See, we must have diversity of appearance, not of thought. We need to get people of all races, colors, and creeds to come together and agree with Sharon Kyle. What’s the point of engaging in meaningful dialogue if other people are going to disagree with you? Or, even worse, if there are too many of them with paler skin than you’d prefer? What’s inclusive about that?

Shut up, teabagger. If you believe that two people can differ on the issues of the day even though they have similar skin tones, you’re a racist.

Actually, let’s assume you’re a racist regardless. After all, you’re reading the Daily Caller, aren’t you?

Update: Also, Nancy Pelosi got booed at Leftyfest ’13, so that was kinda fun.

She always looks like she’s being remote-operated by someone who’s still learning the controls, doesn’t she?

Which would explain a lot…

Update:

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Jim Treacher